Jesus entered the temple of God and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you make it a den of robbers.” (Matthew 21:12-13)
Being present here today in the restored and just re-consecrated Chapel of Mary on Naissaare we can draw parallels with the Temple in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus. The House of God that Jesus habitually visited had under the patronage of King Herod over a 40-year period been renovated and enlarged achieving great splendour which even the first Temple built by Salomon could not be compared with. Everyone was proud of this grand Temple.
When Jesus arrived at the Temple – the House of God – he did not meet a crowd inspired by faith. The long awaited Messiah had just arrived in the city on the colt of a donkey but in the Temple trading and the exchange of money was taking place so that no one paid attention to the arrival of the King. God’s Son was not welcomed to God’s House! “My house shall be called a house of prayer; but you make it a den of robbers!” said the irritated Jesus as he overturned the tables of the money-changers.
It is specifically through Jesus’ evaluation of the Temple in Jerusalem that we should evaluate the meaning of every sanctuary for our contemporaries. Thus, like we provide our bodies with food and our spirits with spiritual food, we need to achieve a balance between the worldly and the sacred also in the life that fills every sanctuary. This is a serious challenge in the whole of Europe where many church buildings are abandoned by congregations, sold and then used for other purposes. In Estonia no congregation has voluntarily abandoned a building belonging to them – they were forced to leave or give the buildings up during the rule of various worldly powers, when spirit was forced to succumb to power.
This also is the reason why the residents of Naissaare left and abandoned their homes, including the home-church. Today the chapel on Naissaare as a House of God has risen from the ashes. That we today here in this chapel hold a worship service can be considered one of God’s miracles. Likewise it is with the restoration of an independent Estonian nation exactly in these days 27 years ago. Gone are the generations-long decades, when Estonia, like this island, was trampled by the muddy boots of the occupiers. There was a time when this building was “a den for robbers” – this was used as a storehouse for goods, here was a cinema where propaganda films were shown. Finally, what was left of this chapel was a barely standing ruin which 20 years ago was deemed unfit for restoration.
Every building is a House of God, as long as therein abides a congregation. Like the Church of Christ is alive as long as there is faith. Faith in turn is born when in these churches the Word of God is heard and the sacraments are partaken of. As long as a congregation gathers on a regular basis for worship services in a church, including this restored Chapel of Mary on Naissaare, there is no fear, that it could be compared with a “den of robbers” described by Jesus.
Like with the life of a person, it is also with a church building: it is not so important for how long we have it, but how we furnish the time given to it. Jesus did not evaluate the splendour of the Temple in Jerusalem nor the 40-year long time taken for human efforts to restore the Temple very highly because people were able to make the sanctuary look like a den of robbers. He desired that God’s Temple should be used as a house of prayer. This is the purpose for consecrating the houses of God – churches, chapels and temples.
Being here in this restored chapel and reflecting on the 100th anniversary of the birth of our nation and the 27th anniversary of the re-birth, our hearts are filled with thanks and joy. With God’s help we have been able to turn the bad into something good, the misery into a blessing, and change one sanctuary, which was in the meantime “a den for robbers”, into a house of prayer. This creates joy! The life of a Christian is a joyful life. One holy man from a monastery of Mount Athos in Greece, Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos, has said: “For the joy of one, that does not make others joyful as well, is not true joy.” Likewise shall our joy today be a shared shout of joyful thanksgiving, which we raise together toward Heaven.
Amen.